SELFISH, WHINING MONKEYS

Selfish, Whining Monkeys
by Rod Liddle
Buy it at Amazon.com

Reviewed by Kevin Scott

The latest book by caustic newspaper columnist, Rod Liddle, who also writes for the Spectator magazine, called Selfish, Whining Monkeys (subtitled: 'How we ended up greedy, narcissistic and unhappy') is an entertaining read for all those who want an offbeat (and sweary) alternative to the politically correct, sterile left-liberalism that currently dominates modern British political and social life.

Liddle, who previously worked for the Labour party and the BBC, intertwines autobiographical reminiscences with pointed observations about the unravelling of British society since the Second World War, some of them amusing, others quite touching, particularly about his parents, and laments the decline of the working class, blaming, among others things, mass immigration, Mrs Thatcher, the Frankfurt School, and left-liberal elites (of all political parties and none!), most of them public-schooled educated and predominant across society, particularly in the legal system, media and politics, for the current abyss.

Although born in the south of England, in the early sixties, he grew up in the north east, living in the suburbs of Middlesbrough from the age of eight. At sixteen, he joined the Trotskyite communist Socialist Workers' Party and briefly recounts his hilarious (and short-lived) attempts to win over the working class in the town, much to the embarrassment of his long-suffering parents.

The book deals with his subsequent life and various observations concerning modern British society, when compared to earlier times: "I, and my generation, seem feckless and irresponsible, endlessly selfish, whining, avaricious, self-deluding, self-obsessed, spoiled and corrupt and ill."

Rod Liddle: not giving too many f**ks

In seventeen pithy and thought-provoking chapters, he covers, what he calls the "culture of narcissism", the relationship between the sexes, class, deference, the rise of London, largely at the expense of the rest of the country, the rise of the internet, fake privatisation and economic choice, the fake (or, as he calls it, faux) political left, modern illness and the dominance of two schools of political and economic thought (from Frankfurt and Chicago respectively) which he claims have ruined British society, despite their apparent antagonism.

Over the years, with the BBC, and whilst writing for the Spectator, Liddle has courted controversy on a number of occasions, falling foul of the laws of contempt when discussing the Stephen Lawrence case, and, to the disgust of his fellow BBC apparatchiks at the time, allowing the BNP a fair crack of the whip when discussing matters of concern to ordinary people, particularly mass immigration and the rise of militant Islam.

Immigration

His remarks in the book about mass immigration, still ongoing, despite massive public opposition, deserve repeating, though you will need to read the book to get the full flavour of his biting comments on the issue.

First of all, he makes certain that nobody thinks he is blaming the immigrants themselves, writing:

"Again, just in case of any misunderstanding, none of the blame should fall upon the immigrants: Polish or Bangladeshi or Somali. Who would blame them for trying to improve their lot? Or, for that matter, for in some cases cleaving to their traditional customs when, under the forlorn banner of multiculturalism, they have been exhorted to do so by the state?"

He asserts that the state is responsible when things go wrong, as they have done a number occasions over the years, with numerous race riots over the decades, starting with London in the fifties, against an influx of Afro-Caribbeans, and continuing to simmer away in various English towns and cities, particularly with the rise in the number of Muslims largely revolving around the child sex grooming scandals, ignored by the authorities until recently.

Liddle writes:

"Trouble between the incomers and the indigenous population tends to boil over only when the complaints from the latter are dismissed out of hand for reasons of political correctness, by local or national politicians, the social services departments, or the police."

In an excellent summary of the baleful consequences of mass immigration and multiculturalism, he concludes:

"Immigration is important for a number of reasons. First, it is the perfect example of an issue over which the numerically miniscule metropolitan elite has imposed its will upon the rest of the country. An overwhelming proportion of British people wish all immigration to cease now, including a majority of those who were not themselves born in the country - and a large majority of British people think there are too many immigrants here already. the public have been remarkably consistent on this issue over the last fifty years, although opposition to immigration is now higher than it has ever been - the consequence, one would assume, of the astonishing numbers of new arrivals who have come to Britain since 1997."

He continues:

"Second, the most pro-immigration party, Labour, has the most immigration-averse voter base, which has led to large swathes of the working class electorate feeling disenfranchised from the mainstream political process. This is a consequence of Labour's 'Londitis', naturally: at the very top of the party it no longer identifies with the hopes and aspirations of the people it was set up to represent."

He concludes:

"Third, the way in which immigration has taken place - the raw numbers of those who have come in, and the refusal of successive governments to consider how these people might be best integrated, or better still, assimilated - has chipped away at the notion of Britain as possessing a coherent cultural identity, a set of values to which we might all more or less subscribe. It has also necessarily shaken the view we had of our own history. You can argue one way or another as to whether or not this is a good thing. Either way, it is a double whammy in that unequal battle between those two disparate parts of the United Kingdom, London and non-London. London has imposed its minority views upon non-London in a way which non-London deeply resents, thereby exacerbating a growing political divide between these two entities. And, further, the consequence of mass immigration has been to loosen even more the ties which bind us together as a nation state."

Tragedy

As racial and religious tension continues to increase, exacerbated by EU-led mass immigration and insane continental (and London-based) politicians demanding open borders, largely for economic capitalist expediency, the biggest tragedy to befall this country will continue to eat away at what remains healthy and worthwhile, regardless of the sacrifices of countless generations over the centuries at home and overseas.

Moreover, the rise of UKIP (and before that, the BNP) and the SNP, north of the border, can also be explained by this process.

Rod Liddle has done us a favour by getting to the source of the trouble that went before and lies ahead.

Read it (and weep!)


Originally published at Civil Liberty, an organization dedicated to opposing the tyranny of political correctness in the UK.

Rod Liddle plugging his book on the shrill, Leftist British media.